Opinion: 'This is not a game"™

I have asked myself the following question over and over again. What is the end game of elected officials? To win the next election? And then what? What is their true mission?

To me, the end game is working for my constituents and being a conduit for their needs through promoting and running a financially sound and efficient State Government. I recognize that our State is in deep fiscal trouble and I am running for office to make the hard decisions necessary to undo decades of misguided and unsustainable economic and financial policies.

As an economist, I am dismayed by our Democratic legislators' financial actions that have resulted in reckless, uncontrollable spending and treats the taxpayer dollars as if this were a game of Monopoly money. The fact that the Democrat-controlled legislature has failed to address the $50 billion of unfunded liabilities for state employees is totally irresponsible. Democrats in Hartford have been running yearly deficits that demand more borrowing and higher taxes, to what end? A financial Armageddon that we, the residents of Connecticut, will face if we don't fix this problem and break the Democrats' stranglehold on the state legislature.

This is not a game, just look at the financial meltdown in Greece. There are dramatic costs for inaction.

As a business woman engaged in international and local businesses, I am just as dismayed by our Democratic legislators' inability to understand that the private sector is the true engine of Connecticut's economy, and that government expenditures do not fuel economic growth. High taxes and massive regulations do not invite businesses to Connecticut -- quite the opposite -- they are chasing them away.

While all the states around us are increasing taxes on businesses and individuals, Connecticut could become a haven for those businesses and individuals. Lower the tax burden and they will come here and create jobs. Lower taxes and they will come here and buy houses and buildings. Lower taxes and the state of Connecticut will have more revenue than imaginable.

I am running for office to bring real and current business experience and education to a political system that has lost its way, and where hubris trumps the needs and desires of the residents.

It is time to put our financial house in order and make Connecticut a welcoming state for businesses and individuals.

We can do this by:

Consolidating redundant state agencies; privatizing many state functions; reducing the number of state employees; and adjusting state employees' benefits and salaries to align them with those of their counterparts in the private sector.

If drastic measures are not taken to cut government spending, we cannot avoid the same fate as Greece. 

I am asking for your vote in the upcoming caucus. I will not disappoint you, and I will make you proud.

Nitzy Cohen is a potential candidate for Connecticut's 136th assembly district. She can be reached at www.nitzycohen.com.